info.yaktaa@gmail.com

This is the most common question I am asked every now and then...

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Any form of handicraft is always generational in our country. The first generation to enter into any form of handicraft is either from boomers or generation X and then their children carry it forward. But a millennial being the first generation to venture into hardcore hand block printing manufacturing sector and doing wholesale instead of owning a boutique is extremely rare.

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The primary three reasons are - firstly, I needed a side hustle to increase my income back in 2022, secondly I am an introvert who hates being in limelight so retail was never my forte and lastly, in my childhood I often visited my father's factory (he was the Production Head in a pharmaceutical company) where I was always fascinated by big machines, big machinery mean big power...that's how my brain works. So I choose to start a factory and not a boutique.

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I am competing with the sharks in this handblock printing and batik sector. People have huge budget, years of experience and I didn't have any when I started and nor do I have even now. So I made my designs so unique that people can instantly recognize Yaktaa just from seeing the motifs.

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I hold degree in International Relations but today I better know how much thicker is need to make the binder than what was Machiavelli's theory of hegemony. I do block printing and batik work with my karigars whenever there is shortage of staff and my dyers come to me to know what combination of colours to use to get the right shade of rust. I learnt each of the craft from the senior karigars who worked in our factory at different point of time and thoroughly trained myself.

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I walk putting on the shoes of an artisan, I think like them, so I don't sympathize with any karigar but I do empathize.